Great, we're doomed now!

She was worried that Ye Shouhao might get carried away and insist on playing the role of covering someone's retreat. Her past behavior as his master was not exactly noble, but no one could guarantee that a seventeen or eighteen-year-old boy wouldn't have a hero complex.

So whether out of personal feelings or identity, Liuli hoped that Ye Shou could be among the first to leave by helicopter, and for this she even dared to talk back to Ye Shou—something that had never happened in the past two years.

“I’ve already been locked on. You’ll only be a burden if you come with me, and it would be too dangerous for me to be in the helicopter!”

Ye Shou steadied himself, a hint of anxiety appearing in his eyes:

He has no noble sentiments of selflessness; he doesn't take the helicopter purely for safety reasons!

Liuli and the others didn't care; they could leave as they pleased, and Su Na Gui wouldn't specifically target them. But Ye Shou was being watched. Once he entered a helicopter, a vehicle notoriously fragile and difficult to control, his life would truly be out of his hands.

What seemed to be the fastest and safest escape route was, in fact, a death trap for Ye Shou!

If it were a tank, he would have already taken his family and friends and run away!

"Wait! Xiao Shou, are you going to act alone?"

Hearing the screams coming from afar, Chika didn't know whether they were from a ferocious beast or a demon, but she understood that the situation was urgent.

"The helicopter can make a round trip in just a few minutes, and once we're on the highway, we can drive home!"

"I don't want to take any risks."

As soon as the words were spoken, the sound of the rotor cutting through the air gradually reached everyone's ears from afar. The girls and the priest immediately felt relieved and visibly breathed a sigh of relief.

Liuli grasped Ye Shou's hand and said firmly, "I understand your thoughts. Please take good care of yourself. We'll gather more people to deal with the monsters once we leave this place."

"It's alright, just be careful when you leave, I'm afraid of falling—"

Clang!

laugh!

A series of brilliant, intense sparks of crimson gold erupted in the sky. With a deafening crash of steel, a helicopter, like a bird with broken wings, lost its balance, spinning and plummeting downwards. Its sharp rotor blades sliced ​​through trees before finally crashing to the ground.

boom!!!

A huge fireball illuminated a corner of the night sky, and the entire forest became scorching hot.

"I'm really afraid of the plane crashing."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Everyone fell silent, a single thought simultaneously arising in their minds:

What do we do now?!

Ye Shou was calmer, but anger was rising in his heart: although he hadn't originally intended to go up, this damn thing really wasn't going to let him go!

"If you're up there... I... I'd rather die a hundred times than atone for it!"

Liuli, who had originally wanted Ye Shou to escape, covered her mouth, looking terrified.

She just couldn't understand how a monster the size of a wild boar could threaten a helicopter hundreds of meters high.

"Did you anticipate this possibility? Indeed... your instructions were the most correct!"

"Now is not the time to regret."

Ye Shou's eyelids twitched slightly, and he laughed angrily, "Looks like it really intends to fight me... Do you still remember how to fire a gun?"

"I know, Lord Ye Shou taught me, and I still remember it very well." Liuli was not very confident, "It's just that I haven't tried it for a long time."

"Hmm, don't be nervous. But be prepared, this time the target won't be a round target."

Ye Shou pulled a lightweight Glock pistol from his pocket, glanced at the maid, and Liuli instantly understood what he meant.

It wasn't a round target... The target was a human, or at least something with a human-like appearance!

But there was no time for her to hesitate. Liuli immediately took Glock and decided to put morality aside for the time being and deal with whatever the problem was after overcoming the difficulties.

Seeing the two men with guns, the remaining people were extremely nervous. What had happened tonight was both confusing and unsettling to them, and they still didn't know what the danger lurking in the darkness was!

"Give me a pistol too." Qianhua mustered her courage, but only received a shake of the head from Ye Shou.

Just kidding, this isn't like in TV dramas where you can just pick up a gun and use it!

For ordinary people who haven't received any training, the probability of making mistakes when they first hold a gun in actual combat under high tension is too high... In the real world, there's no such thing as friendly fire.

Moreover, Ye Shou didn't prepare that many small handguns; his collection consisted of items full of violent aesthetics.

For example--

Ye Shou touched the "melon" hanging on his belt, a glint of shrewdness flashing in his eyes.

He had been to the cyberpunk world, but because he didn't have a cybernetic body, he encountered many obstacles in his actions and had to worry about being discovered by the "corporation," so he acted discreetly and cautiously.

(People who haven't undergone any modifications are rare, but not impossible.)

Fortunately, gold is still valuable even in the future world. With this hard currency, he carefully collected things that were of value to him while worrying about being cheated. In the end, he still made quite a few gains.

Aside from things like USB drives and chips, weapons, equipment, and medicines are of paramount importance. Most of these require cybernetics or brain-computer interfaces to function. Compared to high-powered weapons that require physical connections, grenades, which are disposable items with no usage barriers, are more convenient and affordable for Ye Shou.

Scorched Earth Grenade! Pulse Bomb!

To be honest, this thing's firepower is not comparable to that of large-caliber artillery, but even ghosts should be affected by "fire" and "electromagnetic waves"!

The current Sukuna Oni is nothing more than a remnant soul, its true form suppressed within the mountain, unable to move. Even after possessing another body, it dares not touch Nishikida Keiryu's sword. Its claim of immortality is merely a facade, relying on the fact that ordinary guns and cannons cannot harm its spirit; it is by no means truly invincible.

Admittedly, whether grenades will work is debatable, but Ye Shou is not a hoarder; he has to use special items when necessary!

—If all else fails, I can always just spend money on in-game purchases!

"Th-that..."

Just as Ye Shou was secretly hesitating and planning how to deal with Sukuna Oni, Yotsuya Miko, who had been staying at the edge of the open space without any presence and always seemed to want to say something but couldn't, finally couldn't help but speak up.

“Although I’m not entirely sure what you encountered at the shrine, it seems it’s not going to let us go. These kinds of evil spirits are very persistent. If it remembers your scent, it will still come after you even if you leave.”

"...Yotsuya-kun?"

Seeing that Zi had attracted everyone's attention, Ye Shouze felt a little ashamed: this JK was not a priority for him, and he hadn't really considered placing her there.

Upon closer inspection, the two from the board game club were also there, but they looked terrified and were clinging tightly to the miniature shrine.

After all, in their eyes, it was just a series of inexplicable explosions, shrill screams echoing in the night, and several priests inexplicably losing their positions... Seriously, these people usually love finding urban legends, but now that they've encountered the real thing, they're as docile as little rabbits!

"Miko-chan, do you know a lot about this stuff?" Chika glanced at the pale-faced, completely useless priest, and ran to Yotsuya Miko's side with anticipation. "Do you have any good suggestions?"

"No... I just... have something to say to Kuze-senpai."

"Ok?"

"Um... it might be hard for people to believe, but... Kuze-senpai's guardian spirit asked me to pass on a message to you."

"Guardian spirit? What guardian spirit!"

Ye Shou subconsciously turned his head to look behind him, and he did see a blurry black shadow, but perhaps because it was too close to the face, he could not see the whole picture.

"When did this huge lump appear behind me?" The man's hair stood on end.

"Kiko-chan, are you kidding me? Guardian spirits?" Chika's mouth dropped open. "So we have guardian spirits too?"

"No... not everyone has it. I only see it occasionally, and I usually don't say it out loud."

Because some evil spirits can disguise themselves... Jianzi has already suffered from this more than once.

However, guardian spirits are still easy to identify. Their energy attributes are different from resentment; they are more like a "belief," and their atmosphere is completely different from that of evil spirits. Only a very few people will have such a lucky blessing.

For example, Miko doesn't have a true guardian spirit, which is why she's plagued by evil spirits. If she had a powerful spirit bodyguard, ordinary monsters wouldn't pose a threat at all.

She once saw a male high school student on the street who even had two guardian spirits at the same time: one was an English gentleman with a pipe and a hat, and the other was a tall, thin figure with a raven mask and a long scythe.

The man entered a crime scene that had been cordoned off by the police. Despite being surrounded by so many vengeful spirits, he couldn't even touch them. He was killed one by one by the tall, thin figure, without any power to resist.

This scene left a very deep impression on her, and she even wanted to get to know him to see if he could solve her problem.

But she later noticed that the tall, thin figure would still brandish a sickle even when there were no evil spirits around.

It listlessly observed the surrounding crowd, occasionally extending its fingers as if counting, as if waiting for them to finish their remaining time...

Subconsciously sensing some danger, I ultimately chose to keep my distance from her.

Later, a thought suddenly flashed through her mind:

The tall, thin figure might not be a guardian spirit, but rather someone who simply feels more efficient being around that person—the image of a corporate slave driven mad by performance targets and choosing to slack off inexplicably pops into my mind.

One day later, she saw a news article in the newspaper and learned that the high school student was actually a very famous detective.

Now, Kenko also sees the guardian spirit in Ye Shou!

When we first entered the mountains, everything was blurry; even with Jianzi's "eyesight," it was difficult to see clearly. He only saw a faint wisp of smoke. Later, he saw the fierce face of the Rakshasa, but now it's much clearer.

An ancient warrior in a coarse cloth kimono, wearing wooden clogs, with an indistinct face!

Normally, for her own safety, she would never say anything even if she saw it, but now that someone has died, she, being kind-hearted by nature, can no longer care about such things!

"warrior?"

"Yes! He's very anxious and wants to talk to you, but you can't hear him at all."

"No wonder I felt like there were mosquitoes around my ear... I see, samurai~"

Ye Shou seemed to be deep in thought: "What is he trying to say?"

"call!"

Jianzi took a deep breath: "We absolutely cannot let Sukuna go. Once it gains a physical body and leaves this place, it will definitely come back to break the seal and take back its original body. At that time, the entire Kanto region will be plunged into a disaster!"

Most of his power resides in the ancient sword enshrined at the shrine, but he must never draw that sword, otherwise Sukunaki could break free of the seal now.

So there's nothing he can do to help right now; he can only tell you Sukunaki's weakness. The rest is up to you.

"...Huh? I'm going to beat up that ghost?"

Chapter 23: The Honorary Successor of the Ashina School

Flames flowed through his body;

Rusty iron is polished in gravel;

Evil spirits, return from the darkness!

The popping sounds continued in unison, and the tendons and blood vessels were like broken steel wires, with sharp cuts piercing the skin, leaving the whole body covered in blood as if being slowly sliced ​​to death.